What They Don't Tell New Scriptwriters
Segun Iwasanmi@iwasanmisegun212159
12 days ago
© Segun Iwasanmi
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The first script I ever read that disappointed me was not badly written. The grammar was fine. The dialogue was clean. But after five pages, I felt tired, like someone had been talking at me instead of letting me watch something happen.
A boy walked into a room and spent two paragraphs explaining how angry he was. Not once did he slam a door. Not once did he hesitate before sitting down. He just kept telling us how to feel, the way some people talk too much when they are nervous.
I started noticing it everywhere. New scriptwriters love words so much that they forget the camera does not read paragraphs. It watches behaviour. It notices silence. It listens to what is not said. That is why a raised eyebrow can sometimes do what three pages of dialogue cannot.
Let me bring this thing to life (it's like you guys don't believe me 😀). When someone is heartbroken, they rarely announce it like a town crier. They move slower. They answer late. They laugh at the wrong places. Film works the same way. The audience believes what they see, not what you explain to them.
This is why many scripts fail quietly. It's not because the idea is weak, but because the writer keeps holding the viewer by the collar, dragging them to every meaning, every emotion, every intention, until there is no space left to feel anything.
When I began to unlearn that habit, my writing changed. I stopped asking, “How do I explain this?” and started asking, “How can this be shown?” A character wiping his hands on his jeans. A long pause before a reply. A choice not taken. Suddenly, scenes started breathing.
If you are writing for screen and your script feels heavy, check for this one thing. Are you trusting the image, or are you afraid the audience will not understand unless you overtalk it? Film rewards courage. The courage to be quiet when silence can speak.
This is the kind of thing I sit with writers to fix. You need to first learn how to turn ideas into scenes that actually work on screen. Once you see it, you cannot unsee it, and your scripts never read the same again.
© Segun Iwasanmi | ™The Man With The Story.
Book Writer | Screen and Scriptwriter | Creative Fiction writer | Book Editor.
I help people turn rough ideas into bold stories that work
